Search the Internet or popular science magazines. Find information about national and international awards in your field of science. Report back your findings to the class.

Listening

1. Look at the words below and say which field(s) of science they refer to.

 

2. What do you know about polythene and its uses in our everyday life?

3. You are going to listen to Anthony Willbourn talking about the discovery of polythene. As you listen mark the statements below T for ‘true’ or F for ‘false’. Correct the false ones.

a) Anthony Willbourn is a journalist. ()

b) He was lucky to meet and talk to people that discovered polythene. ()

c) A team of researchers discovered polythene in 1939. ()

d) The researchers were investigating the phenomena at high pressures. ()

e) Their discovery was made by accident. ()

f) The experiments were carried out in a well-equipped laboratory. ()

g) Scientists failed to find practical applications of polythene at that

time. ()

h) The substance was launched into mass production the month after the war broke out. ()

i) Radars helped the British aircraft, RAF, to contain Luftwaffe attacks. ()

 

Speaking

Work in small groups. Think of any discovery or invention made in your field of science in the 20^th century. Which do you think has been of major importance for the advance of science and technological development? Give reasons for your choice of the discovery / invention. Tell the class about them.

 

In the Realm of Science

1. Learn how to say the singular and plural nouns.

phenomenon [fi'nɔminən]	phenomena [fi'nɔminə]
medium ['mi:diəm]	media ['mi:diə]
radius ['reidjəs]	radii ['reidiai]
analysis [ə'næləsis]	analyses [ə'næləsi:z]
crisis ['kraisis]	crises ['kraisi:z]
formula ['fɔ:mjulə]	formulae ['fɔ:mjuli:]
nucleus ['nju:kliəs]	nuclei ['nju:kliai]
axis ['æksis]	axes ['æksi:z]
index ['indeks]	indices ['indisi:z]

2. Read and remember the prefixes that show various sizes.

Number Prefix Symbol 10 ^1 deka- da 10 ^2 hecto- h 10 ^3 kilo- k 10 ^6 mega- M 10 ^9 giga- G 10 ^12 tera- T 10 ^15 peta- P 10 ^18 exa- E 10 ^21 zeta- Z 10 ^24 yotta- Y

Number Prefix Symbol 10 ^-1 deci- d 10 ^-2 centi- c 10 ^-3 milli- m 10 ^-6 micro- u (greek mu) 10 ^-9 nano- n 10 ^-12 pico- p 10 ^-15 femto- f 10 ^-18 atto- a 10 ^-21 zepto- z 10 ^-24 yocto- y

 

 

Unit 2 Progress Monitoring In this unit you have worked on the vocabulary related to the topic “Evolution of the Natural Sciences” to make a breakthrough   dramatically/essentially/profoundly   to play a key role in the advancement of modern electronic devices   scientist/philosopher/explorer/inventor or discoverer   to have tremendous/great/practical effect on sth   double-edged sword discovery or invention   to have an impact on sth   to be of the greatest benefit to mankind   to provide a way to do sth   to experiment with different techniques   to open a new frontier   to be awarded the Nobel prize   to create principles/tremendous energy   to redefine sth/smb’s understanding   to show positive or negative potential   deep insights into the nature of sth     Tick (V) the points you are confident about and cross (X) the ones you need to revise.

 

Unit 3 Review

 

1. Science students often have to work in a laboratory. A lot of funny and ridiculous things happen there. Make up a ‘chain story’ to describe one of them.

Example: Peter got into a lot of trouble a couple of days ago. The trouble began

at his chemistry lab class.

Cue: While…………………

Student A: While the teacher was explaining the procedure of the experiment he was looking out of the window and daydreaming.

Cue: When …………………

Student B: When students started heating the substances he by mistake took the wrong test tube. He was nearly frightened to death to see the substance going out of the tube and splitting on the desk and his clothes. The desk got stains on it and his jeans got holes in them.

Cue: ……… before ………..

Student C: The teacher was very angry with him, though he was glad Peter had remembered to wear safety glasses before starting the experiment. Anyway, Peter’s lab work was a complete failure and now he has to …

Cue: …………………

Student D: ………………..

 

 

2. Use the word in blocks to form one word that fits in the gap in the sentence.

a) The __________ of the transistor made personal computers possible.	INVENT
b) Any __________ data should be confirmed experimentally.	THEORY
c) I’ve always wanted to be a ___________.	SCIENCE
d) The ___________ of these huge ice sheets must have led to the destruction of all organic life at the Earth’s surface.	DEVELOP
e) What ____________ reaction is going on now?	CHEMISTRY
f) Hubble’s brilliant ___________ was that the red shift of galaxies was directly proportional to the distance of the galaxy from earth.	OBSERVE
g) Nicolai Lobachevsky was a great Russian __________.	MATHEMATICS
h) Livingstone was the first European to make an ___________ of the Zambezi river.	EXPLORE
i) I’m afraid this device isn’t accurate enough to do all necessary ____________.	MEASURE
j) The ____________ of America forms the beginning of a new period, both in modern history and in modern geography.	DISCOVER
k) I’m sure this new digital device will find widespread ____________.	APPLY
l) Their greatest ____________ was the discovery of DNA.	ACCOMPLISH
m) The product of two numbers is called ____________.	MULTIPLY
n) He was awarded the Nobel Prize for __________ Black Holes.	INVESTIGATE

 

3. Divide into 5 teams. Each team completes mind maps for the words: experiment, accomplishment, development, laboratory and technology. Check your results as a class.

 

4. Explain the difference between the words.

to invent - to patent

experiment - observation

to be nominated for a prize - to be awarded a prize

technology - technique

award - reward

 

5. Read these sayings. Comment on the one you like most.

Ø “Our inventions mirror our secret wishes”. Lawrence George Durrell.

Ø “The guns and bombs, the rockets and the warships, all are symbols of

human failure”. Lyndon B. Johnson.

Ø “Accident is the name of the greatest of all inventors”. Mark Twain

Ø “No great discovery was ever made without a bold guess”. Sir Isaac Newton.

 

6. Work in pairs. Think of 3 words with each prefix from the list below.

 

1) tele-	3) mono-	8) semi-
2) aero-	4) bi-	9) multi-
3) photo-	5) super-	10) dec-
4) micro-	6) extra-	11) trans-
5) auto-	7) hydro-

 

 

7. See how quickly you can find the answer to this rather long sum.

Four add two, divide by three, subtract one, multiply by eight, take away four, times three, plus two, minus four, halved, equals what?

 

Each one teach one

 

Work on your own. Make a list of 10 international and ‘false friends’ words. Ask your fellow student to sort them out.

 

 

 

 

“There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth.

We are all crew.”

Marshall McLuhan

 

Learning Objectives

 

In this module you will learn how:

· to make use of diagrams and flowcharts to describe processes, steps and stages

· to express purpose

· to express cause-effect relationships

· learn how to write a letter of inquiry

· to talk about various environmental problems, their causes, consequences and solutions

· to revisit relative clauses